MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Shareef23]

It didn't make any difference because the ball went OB and K was awarded the ball anyway.

Ummm, no actually. Trewella caught it, drove the lane, made the lay up, got fouled, and promtly made the free throw. I honestly thought it was a crutial play.

[oldknight]

It didn't make any difference because the ball went OB and K was awarded the ball anyway.

Ummm, no actually. Trewella caught it, drove the lane, made the lay up, got fouled, and promtly made the free throw. I honestly thought it was a crutial play.

I was thinking about the one in the first half, which is the one I thought Meckes touched. If he did the same in the second half I didn't notice it. But you're certainly right that Trewhella's recovery and subsequent 3 point play was a big one.

[kcrest]

Worst had a career game today.

I'll say.  I remember him being a pretty decent high school player (at FH Northern I believe) but he showed a lot more today than I remember then.  Must have been the Rip Hamilton mask.  Has he been wearing that all season?  Broken nose?  Whatever the reason it didn't seem to impact him today.  He had a really nice game.  Hit a lot of big shots and played some typical Kazoo D.

Oldknight, I thought Meckes, despite the two missed dunks, was pretty solid.  In the second half there was a sequence where he had two blocked shots on the defensive end and then sprinted downcourt to take a pass for a layup on which he was fouled and made the free throw.  Pretty good hustle play and pretty indicative of what he brings to the floor.  He wasn't as good today as he was against Albion but he was pretty good.

Hope beat Tri-State by about 10 in what looked to be a pretty good test for the orange and blue (tied at halftime).  Another nice game from Phillips from the looks of it (he's coming on) and good contributions from a host of others.  Nice win for Hope ...

Amazing happenings in sports today (in no particular order):  1) Calvin wins the MIAA 2) US hockey team loses to Slovakia 3) Canada hockey loses to Sweden.

[GoKnights68]

Hope only up by 2 at home?  I hope Hope didn't get the word from this board that this game doesn't matter at all.

Tri-State verses Kalmazoo will be a great first round match-up.

[MIdoubleA]

Just like a few other games today, the Hope game was a lot closer than the score indicated as well. Hope was actually down midway through the 2nd half before freshmen Jesse Reimink comes in and nets 6 points and pulls down a few boards as well. Like I said before, I think this kid is really going to develope into something special down the road - remember his name

I was happy to see all the in-region teams lose today too, maybe it will put Hope on the better side of the "bubble."

By the way, did Calvin's win over Kzoo hurt them like Hope's win over Alma when it comes to all that QoWI stuff? Just curious... I don't even attempt to understand it. 

[sac]

HOPE 66 Tri-State 54

Well this was a half-court posession grind it out affair vs the Thunder tonight.  A FAR cry from their visit to Holland last year.

Tri-State brought a good effort tonight, they played like they wanted that home court game next Wednesday.  Micah Williams was the star tonight for the Thunder, he had over 20 but 13 in the first half when he really was the Tri-State offense.  At least 3 treys.

One of the big plays of the night was Marcus VanderHeide's breakaway steal and layup at the buzzer that gave Hope the lead.  Terrific awareness of the clock as he floated it up just before the buzzer.  Hope led 28-26 at the break.  Maybe a little mo going in to talk things over.

Second half the grind it out game continued although the Dutchmen slowly tightened the screw on defense as the game wore on.  This was not a great shooting night by Hope  by any stretch, they sort of looked like a team with one hand tied behind their back as they knew no one had the hot hand.

TSU had the lead midway through the half, but the game changed when the fearless Freshman Jesse Reimink came off the bench for the first time and promptly dropped a turnaround jumper.  From there the kid seemed to get every rebound and big loose ball of the remaining minutes.  He was big I'm not sure Hope wins without his fine contribution down the stretch.

Andy Phillips was Andy Phillips, getting the ball on the move to the basket, he was fairly sharp, also a  force on the boards.  Another solid effort going into the tournament.  He had an unbievable effort play where he fought off 3 guys chasing a loose ball about 50 feet before laying it in for a big deuce.  He outhustled the whole TSU team on that one.

This was exactly the grinder kind of game you see in the tournaments, and it was nice to see Hope execute well down the stretch.  Not the prettiest win, but late season games rarely are.  For a team that supposed to be invisible in the NCAA"s eyes Tri-State played tough and hard for 40 tonight.  Kzoo/TSU will be next Wed best game.

Time for some tournament action, hard to believe we're already here......man these seasons go by faster every year.

[kcrest]

Amazing happenings in sports today (in no particular order):  1) Calvin wins the MIAA 2) US hockey team loses to Slovakia 3) Canada hockey loses to Sweden.

Quoting yourself, always a good sign.     Canada lost to the Swiss, not the Swedes.  Even worse.  The Swiss have three NHL guys on their entire roster.  Now back to MIAA talk ....

[albinomascot19]

Lets all now get prepped for the MIAA Tournament.  Next week if Albion beats Adrian, it would give them a 20 win season, and it would mark the first time in MIAA History three men's basketball teams would be at the 20 win plateau.

[sac]

My random thoughts for the night.

-----Always check your ticket stub, your seat may be better than you think 

-----#32 for the Dutchmen played a solid game, didn't force anything and made the best entry passes of the night.  The scoring will come.

-----DeVos was full tonight, including a nice group of recruits.  I didn't expect that kind of crowd vs TSU.

-----This was a more emotional Sr night than most.  I've never really thought Hope played well on these nights and tonight was no different.  There's a lot thats always a little different.

-----Tri-State uses some elements of that wacky offense they used last year.  The dribble drives and kick out's for one, they seem to be really good at getting open 3's and they still take a lot.  They're a little short on numbers (11) , only 9 played.  If they get some height they'll be challenging the top, almost no post play at all.

-----I can certainly see how they beat Albion, when they hit the 3 they're tough, and they have enough good players who can drive they create tough matchups.  Despite being out-talled they held their own on the boards untill late.

-----Big props to TSU Coach Harmon for his post game hugs to Hope's 4 Sr's, very classy move.

-----Met Rob Passage at the game, Rob if you see this I rmemberd we met a few years ago before you re-arrived at K, when you were coaching at Chicago.  Seems like a nice guy 

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Nothing really to add to what's already been said, except how encouraged I was to see Andy Phillips play and shoot like that for the second game in a row. 

On a different note - the rules for playing pick-em for the MIAA tournament are posted on the pick-em page.

[sac]

Boxscore from the Hope game

http://www.miaa.org/mbb/stats/0506/0218hots.htm

Interesting how your eyes can deceive you, Hope dominated the glass, to me it looked like TSU was staying tough on the glass.........but down the stretch Hope got almost all the boards.

Scoring  Williams 20, Brookens 15 for TSU
Phillips 18, VanderHeide 12, Immink 11
Reimink 6 pts, 5 rebs in 11 minutes......I don't remember him playing that much.

Here is why the game was close.........TSU 7-18 from 3, Hope 2-20

Other boxscore highlights from around the league

Adrian and Alma combined to miss 40 of 50 3 point shots.
Massey with 20 for the Scots, Collins with 20 for the Dogs.

Nothing really special in the Albion game, other than the 15 points Olivet managed in the first half, Crawford just missed his double/double


Tournament pairings are set..........I assume Adrian won the coin toss.......someone confirm thats what that came down too.

Olivet at Calvin
Alma at Hope
Adrian at Albion
Tri-State at Kalamazoo

We've played the MIAA tournment for 14 years, this will be Hope's 10th first round game...........it will be the NINTH time they face the Scots.  Thats just weird.

[kaufman]

Concerning Mekes two missed dunks.
the first-may have been protecting himself but your not allowed to pull yoursalf up supposedly if protecting himself no T. However he definitely touched the ball while hanging which is basket interference. Calvin was awarded ball because it went OB off a K player.
the second-no one was near him. He was not protecting himself. Pulled himself up. Should have been a T. At least basket interference because he touched the ball again while chinning himself. Calvin got ball back and 3 point play. Very big swings in mommentum.

Worst finally finding his stroke after an injury plagued season. Just in time.
Konwinski was tremendous 16 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds only 1 TO handling the ball almost exclusively. Continually broke down defense enabling others to get open because they had to double him.

Now to beat Tri-State and to try again to get Calvin.

[northb]

We've played the MIAA tournment for 14 years, this will be Hope's 10th first round game...........it will be the NINTH time they face the Scots.  Thats just weird.

That is as wierd as Hope and Calvin never playing each other in the Bank-of-the-Year tournament.

[goodknight]

From Howie Beardsley's game story this morning in the Grand Rapids Press:

Vande Streek not only picked up an outright league championship Saturday, he also earned his 300th career win. He is now 300-155 during 15 years of college coaching, and 207-72 in his 10 years at Calvin.

"The championship is really special, and it's very special to see how well these guys have bought into what we're trying to do and be all about," Vande Streek said.

"To do it as an unheralded group . . . . I've only had one team with a better record than this in conference, and that was 14-0 in 2000, when we won the national title. I don't know what to say about that. That's just incredible."

[bulldogalum]

This is probably going to draw a reaction from the Hope fans out there, but it's not really intended to...

I think Adrian would have been better off if they'd lost that coin toss and had to go to DeVos instead.  I think Adrian matches up better with Hope.  The Bulldogs really struggle with the size and physical play of Albion, and they've struggled at Kresge of late.  However, Adrian has played Hope pretty well the last few years, and just played a competitive game with them.  I think the Bulldogs play more confident against the Dutchmen than they do against either Calvin or Albion.

Anyhow, fire away Dutch fans .